No one would ever think that dumping 3,000 tonnes of salt into a river every single day would be a good idea. And yet that is exactly what Alton Gas is asking the Federal government to let it do.

Indigenous grandmothers and their allies have been fighting Alton Gas’ massive gas storage project, for over 5 years, and the Mi’kmaq have Treaty and environmental law on their side.

That’s why Alton Gas is seeking a run around the rules from the Federal government to allow it to break environmental laws and disregard Indigenous rights to force its destructive mega-project through.

The good news is that there’s still time to support Indigenous rights and protect the river from Alton Gas. A huge outcry now could change the Fed’s mind and deny Alton Gas the permission it needs to start construction.

Will you sign today to tell the Federal government to stop Alton Gas’ destructive gas storage project?

Alton Gas is a subsidiary of a multi-billion dollar natural gas corporation seeking to store natural gas in the salt caverns along the Shubenacadie river. The excavated salt from the caverns would get dumped directly into the river, polluting the water and seriously harming the fish that call it home.

The river is also the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw who have treaty rights to hunt and fish on the river without disruption. Alton Gas’ project violates those rights and threatens an important Mi’kmaw food source.

With an environmental and human rights nightmare on its hand, Alton Gas has pressured the Federal government to consider create new rules just for this project. But together, we can ensure that the Feds put people and the planet before Alton Gas’ profits.

Tell the Canadian government to stop Alton Gas from destroying the Shubenacadie river and violating Indigenous rights.

SumOfUs has supported Indigenous resistance to massive gas companies before. In December, when Coastal Gaslink filed an injunction against the Wet’suwet’en people at Unist’ot’en Camp, over 13,000 members like you sent emails to key decision makers and kept the pressure on to drop the injunction. That project was recently issued a stop work order for non-compliance of conditions and destruction of Indigenous traplines.

We know that the Canadian government has a history of ignoring Indigenous rights in favour of oil and gas companies. But we also know that people power has turned the tide before and, together, we can do it again and prevent Alton Gas from manipulating the law for its own benefit.

Important facts about Alton Gas' project and the Indigenous resistance:

In January 2017, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled that Sipekne'katik First Nation was not properly consulted during the environmental assessment process, a process that has still not been completed. Alton Gas' current plan to dump massive quantities of brine waste into the Shubenacadie River also currently violates the Fisheries Act, specifically the plan to dump a "deleterious substance" into a waterway that fish frequent.

Not only that, but the injunction that Alton Gas filed, to remove water protectors from the land, violates Article 10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories,” which Canada signed onto.

More information